Like the rest of the MCU (Marvel Comics Universe), the setting of the Black Panther movie is a fictitious city, namely Wakanda. And although Wakanda isn’t real, the film’s artists did base many of the sets and costumes on real African countries.

Image copyright by Walt Disney Studios, 2018.

Ruth E. Carter, Black Panther’s costume designer, drew inspiration from the Dogon, the Turkana, the Hemba, the Suri tribe, and the Tuareg people. Carter based jewelry and costume designs on the hand made neck rings worn by Ndebele women and African kente cloth. She was also inspired by Zulu hats and Nigerian chiefs when designing the look of the Queen’s and shaman’s costumes.

If you’re gearing up to watch the film or have already seen it and want to learn more about the cultures which inspired the film, check out some of these books.

Join us for a lunch break Open Heart Open Mic on Thursday, February 15 from 12-1:15PM in John C. Hitt Library room 223. The UCF Libraries is partnering with the Women’s & Gender Studies Program to present an ongoing open mic event series.

You are welcome to bring a story, poem, song, or any other vocal presentation to share – on any topic.

Any original work presented at an Open Heart Open Mic event will be eligible to be listed in STARS KnightVerse. STARS is UCF’s digital repository designed to disseminate, publicize, and share works by, for, and about UCF. KnightVerse is the area within STARS for library related student work. After presenting, see the Open Heart Open Mic host for information about submitting your original work.

No library can possibly have every book or article, and when you are doing research there are times where you need something that the UCF library just doesn’t have. This is when you need to call in the experts at the Interlibrary Loan (ILL) office. Libraries call this resource sharing, a way for libraries to make their resources available to each other in an efficient way.

Don’t wait until the last minute to make your resource list for a project or paper. Interlibrary loan can take from 7-10 business days for a book (depending on where we get it from – it could be from Florida or from California). So, request your books early!

Articles are sent electronically within 3-5 business days typically. So, request your articles early!

While it seems like a good idea to interlibrary loan textbooks, most often other libraries will not lend them. Academic libraries generally keep textbooks on reserve for their own students and don’t share with other libraries. So, please keep this in mind.

We always try our best, but we are not miracle workers. That means that we can’t always fill your requests 🙁. Out of 16,000 requests from all of you last year, we filled 90% of them. Those are amazing stats, by the way.

Have any questions? Contact the Interlibrary Loan & Document Delivery Services Department in the John C. Hitt Library 2nd floor room 222. You can also call us at (407) 823-2383 or email us at illbor@ucf.edu

The national celebration of African American History was started by Carter G. Woodson, a Harvard-trained historian and the founder of the Association for the Study of Negro Life and History, and first celebrated as a weeklong event in February of 1926. After a half century of overwhelming popularity, the event was expanded to a full month in 1976 by President Gerald Ford.

Here at the library we are passionate about celebrating African American culture and history. We are proud to present our top 20 favorite books by, and/or about, African Americans.

Click the link below for full descriptions and catalog links for the 2018 Black History Month Featured Bookshelf.

During February, an exhibit of material about the Buffalo Soldiers will be displayed in the John C. Hitt Library on the main floor. The Buffalo Soldier Historical Society is installing the exhibit to celebrate African American History month. The Society’s mission is to preserve, promote, and perpetuate the history of African-American military units from 1775 to 1951.

All are welcome to a presentation on Friday, February 2 at 2.00 p.m. in the John C. Hitt Library Room 223 for an exciting presentation on an important part of our history.